When a person owes a creditor money, the creditor has a number of different methods by which it can attempt to collect on the debt. One way is to petition a court to garnish the debtor's wages. When wages are garnished, the debtor's employer withholds a portion of the debtor's wages and sets them aside for the creditor. Garnishment laws vary by state; in all states, only certain people are eligible for wage garnishment.
Wage Garnishment
A creditor can garnish an individual's wages only after two conditions have been satisfied. First, the creditor must file a lawsuit against the debtor and receive a civil judgment attesting that the debtor owes the creditor money. Second, the creditor must file a motion with a judge petitioning for the right to garnish the debtor's wages. If the judge grants this motion, the creditor can present the petition to the debtor's employer, who is then obligated to comply with it.
Means Tests
Laws regulating who can and cannot have their wages garnished are made at the state level. States may subject debtors to a means test. In a means test, the state examines the debtor's assets, income and expenses to determine whether he would have enough money to support himself and his dependents if his salary were garnished. Child support payments generally factor into this means test, meaning a person who makes such payments is less likely to pass the means test and be eligible to have his salary garnished.
Child Support
If a person is delinquent in his child support payments, there's a high likelihood that either the state or federal government will attempt to pursue collection of this debt by garnishing the debtor's salaries. In fact, a far larger percentage of a debtor's salary can be garnished by the government to pay for child support payments than a creditor is able to garnish for the repayment of private debt.
Considerations
If a person's wages are already being garnished for child support, a creditor is likely not able to garnish the debtor's wagers until he has repaid his child support payments. This is because, according to federal law, a creditor can only garnish a maximum of 25 percent of an individual's wages. The federal government, however, can garnish a higher percentage. If the federal government is already garnishing the person's wages at a rate higher than 25 percent, the other creditors have to wait their turn.
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